W5FC Repeater Status
  Out(Mhz)StatusPL
(P) 146.880 OFF AIR 110.9
  224.880 ON AIR 110.9
  442.425 ON AIR 110.9
  927.850 OFF AIR +D125
(B) 146.880 ON AIR None
(P)rimary / (B)ackup
Celebrating our 94th year! 		FEMA/RACES
Renew your DARC Membership for 2009 on-line!
Welcome to the Home Page for the Dallas Amateur Radio Club (DARC). The DARC is Texas' second oldest Amateur Radio Club (second ONLY to the Texas A&M Aggie's), founded in 1914 and has been affiliated with the ARRL since 1919.
Your donations are a tax deduction!
DARC is an IRS 501(c)3 Corporation
and an ARRL Special Service Club

News & Events

May 1, 2008
  • Here is the May 2008 DARC newsletter. Thanks to Tom KE5ICX for a job well done!
  • Just a friendly reminder from Club Secretary Scott (KE5DKV) that if you have not paid your membership dues, please do so at this time and Thank You very much in advance. (Also, if you've paid and cannot login to the 'members only' area, I'm still trying to get 'paid' members marked as paid on the website - Mike (KM5Z) )
  • The May DARC club meeting is on Tuesday May 6th at the Brookhaven Church located at the corner of Marsh Ln. and Valley View. The Regular meeting starts at 7:00 P.M. The program for this month's meeting will be "40 Years of Field Day" presented by Len K4IWL.
  • The DARC Board meeting will be on the following Tuesday May 13th at the church and will start at 7:00 P.M. Visitors and members alike are welcome to attend both meetings. Also please joins us for 'burgers and conversation' at 6:00 P.M. at the Burger House located 1/2 mile north of the church on Marsh Ln.
  • The Primary 146.880 repeater is DOWN. A part is fried on the squelch unit - awaiting part and spare time from Bernie. Fresh backup batteries are in place now! Remember the backup repeater requires no PL Tone.
  • The 900mhz repeater problems are resovled (many thanks to Lee, AB5IG - thank him if you catch him on .88). Hopefully it will be back on the air in a couple of weeks - again requiring time to put it back in place.
April 2, 2008 The April Meeting was great! It was good to see so many 'Old Timers' on 'Old Timers Night', as well as 6 new members - Welcome!

It's Spring and there's no shortage of great things to do in Ham Radio:
  • American Red Cross will be having an operating event Saturday, April 12, 2008. See their special website setup for this: http://www.arcdallasradio.net/. They will be operating special event callsign "K5D" (Kilo 5 Dallas) on 7.280mhz and 14.253mhz (- for QRM).
  • Congratulations to Don Murray (W9VE), our 2008 'Whit and Anne Griffith Community Service Award' winner.
  • April 2008 Newsletter is now available. (TNX Tom).
  • David Kaun (KD5LGU) sends us: The next "Ham Radio in the Park" will be on Sunday, April 20 from 3-9 pm at Paschall Park Pavillion, 1001 New Market Road, Mesquite, Texas 75149. They'll be setting up HF stations and wire antennas; instruction will be available on building, tuning and operating. Bring your own equipement or just come out and get on the air. See Ham Association of Mesquite for more information.
  • If HF is not your game right now, Terry Johnson (KB5NFL) says he has an EchoLink node on the air in Lancaster. The Node is #379846 on 146.470 simplex. Terry says give 'er a try.
  • Check out all of the items for sale by the Club and by Club Members. Anybody wanna buy a Ham-Friendly house?
Not enough to keep you busy? Upcoming meeting topics that have been scheduled are:
  • May Meeting - Len Carlson K4IWL 40 years of Field Days
  • June Meeting - Bernie K5BP…Field Day 2008
  • July Meeting - ARMY MARS and its mission with Homeland Security
March 26, 2008 Wild Ride Bike Rally May 17, 2008 - Doug Kilgore KD5OUG is looking for volunteers. They need fixed and mobile VHF/UHF voice operators, APRS trackers, digital still cameras and laptop computers (for sending near real-time photos to the video monitor at the hospitality tent), and networking equipment. The Start/Finish and the 4 rest stops will be connected to the internet. "If you are a new ham, we'll put you with one of our seasoned operators." Please volunteer to help by contacting Doug Kilgore KD5OUG, Wild Ride Comm Coordinator <his callsign> @ arrl.net (972-231-8539).
March 11, 2008 Board Meeting times have been changed - new board meetings are now the Second Tuesday of the Month, or - one week after the Club meeting. Also, upcoming meeting topics are now listed along with the Meeting Places.

Also: Irving ARC needs SAG/bike truck operators and course rovers for the Lancaster Rally on Saturday, April 12th. This is a 20, 40, and 60 mile bike rally benefiting the Greater Dallas Bicyclists. More information is available at http://www.irvingarc.org/iarc_psecalendar.html.
March 10, 2008 Following on the heels of the Irving Hamfest, now adding the Benton County Radio Operators hamfest. 'Bout time for a spring drive to Arkansas.
February 19, 2008 Please note new items listed on the Club Items for Sale area of the website. Items are available at reduced pricing to current, paid-up club members ONLY. (If you'd like an item, please become a member of the club). Prices listed are 'best estimate' of comparable items sold on eBay along with the price for members. Items that remain unsold after 30 days are subject to sale elsewhere (local hamfest, eBay) at market price.
February 5, 2008
  • The amusing tune that James Shugard(N5BKL) provided (by way of Bernie, K5BP) at last evening's Club meeting is now available online. Bernie allows that the song was sung by Dick Sparks, KB5ID an old boss of his and former trustee of the 146.82 repeater.
  • Also - Download section of the Member's Only area includes a new regional repeater and scan list courtesy Bill Dyer (KE5BTZ) - thanks, Bill.
  • Also2 - January 2008 Meeting Minutes are approved and posted.
November 27, 2007
A call recently went out for materials ancient and modern relating to W5FC - Dallas Amateur Radio Club history. The battle has been joined: Len (K4IWL) has kindly donated some materials. I have more from other members, I just need to get scanning. Have a look at the Club History — it's not much, but it's a start — and please keep any old materials (paper newsletters, any early documents, flyers, activities, photos) coming.
A 'Simpsonized' KM5Z
Web Guy, KM5Z
November 16, 2007 73 to John Armon Williams, N5RUZ, SK November 14, 2007. John was an active DARC member, served on the USS Fall River (CA-131), and was a member of the "The Old Old Timers Club" (http://ootc.us)
October 16, 2007 Club Loaner Rigs (and accessory equipment) is now listed in the private 'members only' area. Equipment is available to any LICENSED club member interested in getting on the air, but might not yet have equipment or would like to evaluate operating before committing to buying new gear. Loan-out is for one month (at a time).
August 20, 2007 Here's Bill Dyer (KE5BTZ) on the DPS Tower in Garland, running a new feedline in preparation for the 2007 Hurricane Season.
August 10, 2007 In order to better prepare for communication emergencies, all DARC board members have committed to completing the two basic National Incident Management System (NIMS) courses that will be required by RACES. We also encourage all the members of the DARC to complete them. Our club prides itself on its emergency readiness, and it is time to hone our skills and bring them up to date.

The two courses are offered free online by FEMA and take only about two to three hours each, and they can be done in several sessions each, rather than all at once. The courses are IC-100 and IC-700, and you are awarded a certificate at the end of each. They are equivalent to 0.3 CEUs each. They teach the Incident Command System (ICS), now standardized across the US, and are very helpful in understanding management of disasters and how best to cooperate with and support various agencies, such as police and fire departments, hazmat teams, Homeland Security teams, Medical Reserve Corps, the National Weather Service, Salvation Army, American Red Cross, etc.

The courses do not entail any further commitment, but they are empowering. Here are the links: For the IC-100, go to www.training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is100.asp, go to the bottom of the page and select "Option 1: Interactive Web-based Course," and follow instructions. (You must have enabled cookies so that the course will keep track of your progress and also administer an exam at the end.)

For the second course that will be required by RACES, IC-700, go to /www.training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is700.asp, go to the bottom of the page and select "Option 1: Interactive Web-based Course," and follow the instructions. Note that the test at the end of each course is an open-book test; you can check your answers before you turn them in by downloading the course summary in a different browser.

When you have taken either or both of the courses, please inform us at w5fc@arrl.net. Thank you.
August 6, 2007 If you shop at Tom Thumb, be sure and set your Reward Card account to #4056 and Tom Thumb pays DARC 1% of your total purchases.

W5FC Calendar of Upcoming Events

Nets on the DARC 146.88 Repeater

Day of Month Time Net
Daily 18:30 Hours Local Early Traffic Net (see http://www.dfwtrafficnet.com for more info)
1st Sunday 19:00 Hours Local DARC Meeting on the Air
1st Sunday 20:00 Hours Local Dallas County RACES Training Net
3rd Sunday 19:00 Hours Local DARC Meeting on the Air
3rd Sunday 20:00 Hours Local City of Dallas RACES Training Net

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